Yep, spoke too soon

Started early this morning just after 6am so we could get to the Swansea bridge by 7am for our booking.  Got as far as ‘the dropoff’ which was only a couple of hundred metres and the port engine stalled.
Fortunately we weren't in the channel which made things heaps easier to navigate with one engine and we came back into deeper water and anchored for an hour or two while I tried a few things.
Symptoms are (apart from the engine stalling obviously):

• small amount of white smoke
• hard to start
• loud (much louder than normal) knocking when starting the engine [only happened once]

and it’s been quite a while (18 months) since we changed the fuel filters.
End result is I've decided that the last time I filled up I may have either got some dodgy fuel (unlikely because I’m not seeing the same issues with the starboard engine) or the tank on the port side has crud in it and has clogged the fuel filters.
Anyway, we went back to the mooring at Marks Point marina where we’ll stay for the week and commute to Newcastle via dinghy and car until we've had the fuel filters changed.  When I've got time in Newcastle I’ll set up a fuel polishing system.  More on that later.

Going north (well a little bit anyway)

So this morning when we left Canberra at 7.30 it was 4 degrees.  At least it wasn’t minus.  Fog around the airport but we had a good run all the way through to Pennant Hills Road where things came to a stand still for a while.  Anyway, all up it took us 4 and a half hours to get to Swansea.
After the hassles I had last time with the bilge pump in the port engine bay I was keen to see how much water there was this time as I’d seen reports of rain up this way.  Hardly a drop in the port side however this time I had a fair bit (couple of inches) in the starboard engine bay and the bilge pump wasn’t working at all.  Broke out the emergency bilge pump to see how that works and found it sort of worked but had two splits in the hose.  It’s kind of like a vacuum cleaner hose with an internal diameter of about 40mm.  Anyway, got enough water out and then decided that both engine bay bilge pumps are number one on the priority list.  Number two on the list is a new hose for the emergency bilge.  Next weekends jobs!
Certainly wont stop us leaving in the morning, we’re booked for the bridge at 7am which is right on half way between low and high tide.  Once we’re through the bridge we’ll pick up a mooring on the sea side and have breakfast while waiting for more water before heading up to Newcastle.
Sunset at 5pm over Lake Macquarie.

Volvo Maintenance!

So there we were ready to cast off and sail from Pittwater up to Lake Macquarie and when I engage gear nothing happens, increase revs, still nothing.
Cutting an even longer story down by a bit, we have Volvo sail drives that work kind of like a car automatic transmission and they make the prop turn forwards or reverse.
Anyway, according to my owners manual I have 2 x MS 25 SR reverse mounted sail drives.  According to the Volvo documentation they should have automatic transmission fluid in them.  Reality is a little different, thanks Robertson and Caine.  I actually have 2 x 130SR-A sail drives. One has what looks like some really old engine oil and it works perfectly, the other has some milky looking transmission fluid in it and it doesn’t work at all.
Reading the manual is a good thing, right?  Check the internet, it says for that model we should use transmission fluid.  When the sun comes up we go shopping for 5 litres of transmission fluid and replace the lot.  Now reverse works great but it’s still a hit and miss afair with forward.  Eventually, David (my brother) finds this link http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f114/volvo-s130-saildrive-issue-clutch-slippage-41659.html# and then one to the service bulletin itself.  Apparently the one with engine oil in it is correct.  Off to the shopping center again for 10 litres of engine oil this time because we figured we’d need to flush all of the transmission fluid out and we might as well do the starboard side as well.
Thanks Volvo, 5AM start delayed, worked until 3PM and then had two working transmissions.  Quick run around Scotland Island to make sure we’re happy and then leave at 2AM the next day.

Coxswains course in Newcastle

So, I've decided that I want to spend some time not doing IT and I’m going to take a couple of months off.  After looking around at what jobs I can do I've come to the conclusion that working on boats will need a coxswains certificate.  Roughly speaking you spend some time doing theory and practical and then have a log book to keep note of your hours.
End result when I have the certificate is that I can be in charge of vessels up to 12 meters long and take them (with passengers) up to 15 nautical miles off shore.  Also means that if I’m bumming around in a marina I can drive the commercial tender legally and therefore would be insured.
Anyway, we looked at lots of options and I’m going to do the 8 week course full time at the Newcastle TAFE.  Belinda is going to do the General Purpose Hand course which is a 2 week course and then she’s going to do some sewing.

More Solar ....

Added another 120W solar panel with one more to go.  At the moment we’re up to 360W with pics to come.

Preparing the boat

So, we’re starting already. 6 months to go.